Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 7:00 AM
Subject: Scientology Vs "The Real World"

> SCIENTOLOGY VS THE REAL WORLD

> You know...many people have welcomed me to the "real world".....

>  Many ex-Scientologists

> Many  Critics....

> and Many  People, who have absolutely nothing to do with Scientology at all
> ever.

> I have to say that as someone recently out of Scientology, it is TOTALLY
> shocking to find out how many people.............really EVERYONE is on my
side,
> now that I am out.

> I know the thoughts IN Scientology:  "Well, that is just why we have to fight
> harder. We are the only ones with the REAL truth. and of course the big, bad
> world is trying to suppress this truth....so we must just fight harder.
> Horrible people like Tory are out there making this ' Road to Truth' that much
> harder for us."

I dare say some Scientologists might think this. I think it would be a mistake
though.

> Ok...so let's just ask a FEW questions...as we know those OSA volunteers are
> reading this.  See if you can find their answers in other threads. They will
> rarely answer here..but will somehow bring up their responses somewhere else.
> Sort of like "Where's Waldo"....Scientology style. OK...so here are my
> questions:

Well, I'm not a OSA volunteer - I'm just a plain old Scientologist. But I'll
have a go at answering.

> 1) Do you honestly think if the majority of the world sees something as
> wrong...it really isn't and only you all know the real truth?? (Please take a
> moment and think about this..."in a new unit of time". And please try
something
> new other than religious bigotry or Minton Money etc.)

Well ... there are of course a lot of things that the majority of people once
believed which later turned out to be false (see the history of Science).  

I think that I would avoid mentally positing Scn against "the big, bad world"
(quoted from above) and "the majority of the world." The majority of the world
doesn't know anything about the subject. Also I don't see people as being bad.
I like most people; I'm glad they are there.

I use the Scientology I know to help the people around me. It's not a war.

I also don't even mind the critics too much. I supect that they are helping to
concentrate Scientologists' minds into providing better and smoother service.

> 2) How is it a 30 year member who has dedicated most of her adult life to
> helping Scientology is suddenly turned from a highly respected person into a
> "criminal" and a suppressive person in two months? Do you REALLY agree with
> this?

I think it might be helpful to think about what would happen if we were talking
about other groups.

Let's say Sally worked in a large butcher's shop for many years. She was very
friendly with the other staff and they went on social outings and played tennis
on Sunday afternoons.

At some point she has a road-to-Damascus type conversion to vegetarianism and
decides not to work there any more.

What would happen with her old friends from the shop?

I don't think there would be a problem. Particularly if she kept up her
interest in the social events and the tennis afternoons. If she didn't, then
without any shared interests they might drift apart.

If she talked fervently about vegetarianism and said people shouldn't buy and
eat meat then she might well get some resistance from them. However if she also
picketed outside her old place of business, persuaded new trainees not to work
there and gave out flyers, then _at the very least_ her old friends would have
less interest in playing doubles with her.

We could also tell this story in reverse - have her start off as a member of
the vegetarian society who later gets a job in a butcher's shop and sneers at
the beliefs of her old friends.

My grandmother was a life-long Christian. When she got old she was unable to
get to her church and she sometimes complained that hardly any of her old
friends and contacts from the church came to see her. She could no longer talk
about the current goings on in the church, and she and they had no other
interests in common.  One or two people came to visit occasionally. However if
she had picketed outside the church and promoted atheism or Satanism or even
Catholicism, I suspect that the ranks would have closed against her and she
would have been considered with some disfavor.

> 3) Is there not something wrong with a  "church" that is in constant war with
> the world??

Rhetorical hyperbole at its finest!

> OK...those are my questions....if you see any responses that belong here (the
> Where's Waldo routine) please post them here.

> And to any lurking Scientologists...here is the truth:

> While IN Scientology there is a feeling of security and that you MUST be doing
> the right thing.

Speak for yourself. There is a feeling of security, but _I_ only think I'm
doing the right thing if it really does seem to be the right thing. I also only
think the organisation is doing the right thing if it seems to be the right
thing. If it doesn't I write it up and work on getting it changed.

>Agreement is ALL that is holding the house of cards together.

In my opinion it would be agreement plus the applicability of the basic
philosophy to real life and the workability of individual processes.

This IMO makes it stronger than a house of cards.

> Which of course is why no one can ask questions and it is suppressive to talk
> to the media etc. Gawd forbid.....if you spoke!  

Nothing wrong with asking questions.

However I believe that most international organisations stipulate that only
specific people within their organisations should talk to the media. The fact
that this extends to individual parishoners (unlike say at Apple where it
applies to the staff rather than the computer users) only reflects the
difficult conditions that the church has had to operate under. I think it's
hyperbole to say that the church is at war with the world, but I do think that
they have had to weather some heavy attacks. A lot of dirty tricks have been
tried and the church has frequently been infiltrated.  Partly becasue of this
they try to monitor what goes to the media from Scientologists.

>But don't forget...that IS a
> Constitutional right you have...and I have too. And guess what?>??  I used
> it....and now I am told I am a declared SP! Think about that one. Real hard.

> Do as you like...but know one thing: It feels GREAT once you are out.

I'm not speaking about your specific case here, but I jumped staff a few times
and I also felt great for a while. The reason was that I didn't have to take
any more responsibility. This was both responsibility for mistakes I'd made and
also responsibility for running my area in the future.

However the releases didn't last, and I later felt much better (and more
stably) after I'd gone back and cleaned it up.      

> Freedom begins once you start using that constitutional right.

> And it is Sooooo great to have your life ...to be able to do what you know and
> want to do, unconditionally.

Good luck to you!

> I invite you to come try it......:)

Thanks, but no thanks.

> It isn't bad at all to be declared...in fact, some of my best friends are!

> LOVE TO ALL

> Tory/Magoo~dancin in "the real world"~

Freddie T  

p.s. Jeesh, writing a letter like this takes a lot longer than casually
lurking. And it's a bit more stressful.